Sweet and Simple

I made this sweet little card for this week's challenge at Do it With Digis.  I get to be a guest Digi Diva over there occasionally.  The theme this week is fairies/pixies so I used one of the Prairie Fairy images -  Tippy Toe Fairy.  She's one of my favorite fairy images from the Prairie Fairy.  Her skin and hair were colored with Copics and I took a bottle of Liquid Pearls and an aqua painter and painted her dress and wings with Liquid Pearls.  It looks so pretty IRL.  Special Birthday Wishes are going out to Kirsty Vittetoe and the gang over at the City Crafter Challenge Blog.  The blog is celebrating its first birthday this week.  Congratulations on a fabulous first year and wishing you many more!

A little about what I have going on with this card.  The lovely DP is from the Ever After pack by Cosmo Cricket and miracle of miracles, I even managed to let some of it show through!  How do you like the doily lace?  I found a few packs of it and snatched them up to sell in my new Etsy shop.  It comes in strips three inches wide and 40 inches long.  It will work lovely for card making and scrapbooking!  You'll definitely be seeing more of it on upcoming cards!  And I had to add another of my fluffy crinoline flowers (tutorial) to which I added a hand folded seam binding rose as a center - I love the pop of color the pink gave.  In fact, I liked the pink so much I added a small seam binding bow and found some tiny paper flowers of the same color in my stash that worked perfectly to add a bit of decoration to the doily.  

The heart is from an old SU set - Gentler Times.  I stamped it on black CS with versamark and embossed it in white.  To finish the card off, I added a few black Kaiser pearls and a metal filigree butterfly.  I love using metal in my art so I've added metal filigree findings to what I am selling on my Funkie's Junk blog.  This sweet butterfly started life as an antique bronze.  But I wanted it black to coordinate with my card so I applied Adirondack Alcohol ink in Pitch Black with a felt pad.  I think it's so cool to be able to use  the alcohol inks to change the color of metals.  

That about wraps it up.  I hope you will stop over to the Do it With Digis blog and check out what the design team has created.  Thanks ever so much for stopping by today!

Challenges Entered:
City Crafter Challenge - Happy Birthday City Crafter
Charisma Cardz - Pink, Black and Green

Wishing You a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate the sacred day and happy weekend to those of you who don't.  I'm here with our last post of 2010 for Our Creative Corner.  As we close out the year, I want to thank all of you for stopping by each week to see what I've been up to.  Your comments and support mean the world to me and your positive reinforcement letting me know that I actually can make worthwhile art projects have helped to keep me going throughout this past hyper-busy year.  I've had the privilege of serving on some fantastic design teams and have "met" some incredible women.  I know I don't get around to your blogs often enough, but you are all special to me - especially those of you who are regulars who I so enjoy hearing from.  So thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I hope the blogosphere has blessed you as much as it has me.  

Alright, so now on to this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner.  Our host, Sarah Gough, has challenged us to use felt, flocking, flocked paper or felt embellishments on our creations this week.  I am so into using textiles on my cards recently and loved this challenge immediately.  My felt is in the form of die (Cuttlebug/Spellbinders) cut snowflakes.  I used ivory felt and rubbed some Antique Linen Distress Stickles on them for a bit of bling.  And I seem to be very into kraft card stock recently.  I had forgotten how wonderful it is for that rustic country look.  How about this retro style image? I absolutely love it!  The Fairy Queen over at Prairie Fairy has just released it as a digital image and she's giving it away as a freebie on Christmas Day!  Hop over to her blog immediately and sign up to receive her posts and maybe you'll be in time to receive this awesome freebie.  

I'm not going to go into details as I think everything is pretty self-explanatory, but if you have questions just leave them in the comments and check back later for an update to the post.  Now I gotta get some sleep so Santa can come!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - Snow
If The Shoe Fits - Get Crafty
City Crafter Challenge Blog - Vintage Christmas

A Little Late Victorian Sparkle

Hi folks,

I feel like a delinquent blogger.  I haven't been posting much and I've missed you all!  I know I haven't updated my challenge lists in over a week.  I have been so busy with my little part-time job for my Catholic parish, which is supposed to be 20 hours a week.  Hahaha!  Since the end of November I have been working double that and last week it was tripple that number of hours, including 20 over the weekend.  I'm exhausted, my house is a disaster and Christmas is about to steam roll over me!  No time for making cards or blogging either.  So last night when I got home from work at 8:30 p.m., I chose to do some house cleaning instead of my card for Our Creative Corner.  I was expecting my daughter home from college around midnight and wanted to make the house look a little better when she came through the door. 

I got up this morning and finished my card.  Here it is.  Our lovely host Sarah Gough has designed a wonderful sketch for you to follow for our challenge this week.  I love this sketch and think it will be one that I use again - such pretty layers!  I used a bit of my retired (hoarded) Blue Bayou with some Basic Grey DP and a Spellbinders die to create the snowflake.  Two different SU sets were used to stamp snowflakes with white craft ink and the tiny snowflakes are from a Martha border punch.  The sentiment and the Victorian ornament are from Prairie Fairy and the flower and the crinkle ribbon were hand dyed using Rose Red reinker.  Some Rock Candy distress stickles and Crystal Effects finished it off. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm sorry I haven't been around to visit anyone in the past few weeks.  Don't give up on me.  I'll be back with more regularity after Christmas. 

Blessings and hugs,

A Holiday 3-D Project

Good morning, friends.  Welcome back for my Saturday post for Our Creative Corner.  I'm the host again this week and I am challenging everyone to make a three dimensional holiday project - just a bit of a shove to push you all out of you comfort zone.  I'll be the first to admit that I used to HATE doing anything other than a card.  But I've had to do a number of different projects for design team requirements in the past few months and I am happy to say that not only have I lost my fear of doing them, I actually enjoy them.  This one was a lot of fun - or actually, it would have been if I hadn't been so pressed for time. Thursday night when I checked to see what I needed to do for this week's challenge, I about freaked out to see that it was a PROJECT!  So I stayed up late Thursday night to make the box and very late Friday night (because I didn't get home from work until 9:00 p.m.) to do the image,  handmade flowers and handmade bow.   

I'm really pleased with how this came out.  I don't know who I am going to give it to yet, but I think several of my friends would enjoy having it.  I got the idea for the box from this tutorial.  I didn't follow it exactly and am sorry because I made a couple of mistakes that I'll have to remember to do differently next time.  

Here's the dets:  That sweet, sweet fairy is a new image from the Prairie Fairy, colored with Copics with Rock Candy Stickles on the wings and Crystal Effects on the candy cane.  The snowflake is a Spellbinders die cut with Vintage Photo sponging and glitter.  The flowers were hand made using the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die and the Sizzix Flowers and Vines #3 die.  I hand dyed the shabby seam binding to try to match the fairy's dress using numerous colors of Stampin' Up! and Tim Holtz distress inks.  IRL it looks like a closer match that the photo shows.  The hinges were cut from Grunge Paper with a Spellbinders label die, then sponged with Vintage Photo ink and clear embossed.  They came out pretty cool, with almost a leather type of look.  Oh, almost forgot, that is a Layers of Color stamp across the top part of the heart, which by the way was cut with an old Creative Memories heart cutting template.  

I'm very dissatisfied with my photos and editing lately.  I have spent hours taking pictures and more time editing, but can't seem to get the lighting right and the details don't seem crisp and visable.  I'm including a couple of close-ups so you can see the details better.

I think that's enough details.  Of course, if you have any questions, just leave them in the comments and check back later.  I'll update the post with the information you requested.  Not it's time to hop on over to Our Creative Corner and be inspired by the rest of the design teams' projects!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges entered:
Paper Sundaes - Your Favorite Toppings (flowers and shabby seam binding are some of my very favs!)
My Partner in Crafting Crime - Marker Madness
Digital Tuesday - Anything With Wings
ABC Challenge - H is for Holiday
The Creative Cottage Challenge - Make something for someone special at Christmas
Fresh Brewed Challenges - Show off your style
4 Crafty Chicks - Anything But a Card
Paper Romance - Make a card/project with some of  your favorite things
Stampin' B's - Use Snowflakes
Frosted Designs - Distressing
Winter Wonderland - Make a Christmas Decoration
Lots to Do - Share Your Favorite Technique (mine is Vintage)
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Handmade Christmas Gifts

Today's a Two-fer

Hi friends, I hope your weekend is getting off to a great start.  I appreciate you starting your Saturday off with my Our Creative Corner post.  Today's post is also for Fairy Fun Friday.  But it's not Friday, you say.  And you are right!  I cheated a bit with my DT samples this week and made one card for both challenges.  The theme this fortnight over at Fairy Fun Friday is handmade flowers and this week's Our Creative Corner challenge is the color combo shown below. 

The image I used here is from The Prairie Fairy.  I guess I am the official vintage representative on that design team.  I asked our Fairy Queen Roberta to come up with some fall vintage style images and she drew an entire set which you can find in her store.  It's called Fall  Harvest.  I love it.  Last week's Fairy Fun Friday card was made with the same set.  The image was colored with Copic markers and I made the sentiment on my home computer.  The paper is digital from Little Scrap Garden (Coming Home paper pack, but I don't think that particular paper pack is currently available).  The flower was made from crinoline and cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.  Spellbinders dies were also used as was the Tim Holtz Collage Texture Fade.  The wonderful gold net ribbon is from Flourshes (as is the white card stock I use.  It works wonderful for coloring with Copics) and the gold half pearls from Michael's.  That's about it.  Oh, and I did sprinkle a bit of UTEE/Heirlook Gold Perfect Pearls on the embossed panel although it doesn't show much.  I think I need to add a bit more Perfect Pearls to the mix. 

Hope you stop by both challenge blogs to see what the other designers have made.  And hope to see you playing along this week too.  Have a great one!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:
City Crafter Challenge - Thank You
Shirley's 2 Girls - Thanks with a twist - add a pumpkin
Crafty Catz - Paper Tearing
Frosted Designs - Use Thanks or Thankful on your card
If the Shoe Fits - DYI (use a handmade embellishment on your card)
Stamp Something - November Digi Day
Drunken Stampers - Sewing

Fall Flowers

It's Friday again - where did the week go?  The fairies over at Fairy Fun Friday all got together this week and had a blast making our own flowers.  And that's our challenge to you for this fortnight - make your own flowers.  Wow, there are just SOOOO many way to make your own.  I don't have the time right now, but will try to update this post later this evening and include some of my favorite links for creating handmade flowers. 

So please check back later for all the details for my card and some valuable links too.  Right now, have to fly out the door to work.  Be sure to hop over to Fairy Fun Friday to see what the fairys have for your inspiration this week.  And check out the Prairie Fairy store for this charming new vintage-style image I have used here. 

UPDATE:  Okay, worked a 10 hour day, received 4000 pounds of food from our local Feeding America affiliated food bank, supervised the securing of the food, supervised the packing of food bags and finally, stood a counter for 2 hours and distributed food to local out-of-work, elderly and homeless individuals and families.  Now I'm back home and ready to get into the artistic groove.

I promised to share some of my favorite links for making hand made flowers.  Here are a few:

Creations with Christina - one of my favorites and the way I made these flowers

Vanja's Crafty Den - Torn paper flowers

Sherry Sheever's video tutorial for making handmade flowers - another of my favorites

Another Sherry Cheever tutorial for hand made flowers

Dimensional Flowers from SplitCoast Stampers

Lynne Forsythe - Grunge Paper Roses video tutorial

That's it for tonight.  I have to get some sleep.  I have to be back to work at 8:00 a.m. for another busy day - the story of my life until after the holidays.  Hopefully then things will slow down a bit!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges entered:
Crafty Cardmakers - Stitching
City Crafter - Get Your Digi On
Tuesday Throwdown - Be Thankful
Creative Cottage - Embossing
Raise the Bar - Let's See Those Curves

Gotcha Cornered!

Good morning! Hoping your weekend is getting off to a great start. So happy that you stopped by to see my DT sample for Our Creative Corner. I am hostess over there for the month of June and will be setting the challenges. This week, I am challenging you to give some special love to the corners of your card. Instead of neglecting them, fill them with stamps, die cuts, metal, bling, flowers or whatever makes you happy. I'm looking forward to seeing all the creative ways you all can fill up those corners.

I just might have gone a little overboard on filling up my corners, but I definitely made my point! I started with a base of Very Vanilla and Riding Hood Red, overlaid by a layer of Cosmo Cricket DP (too bad I always cover up the beauiful DP). Four of the beautful filagree cross from the Spellbinders Cross Collection (limited edition) die set were cut out of Riding Hood Red. Next up is a layer of Creamy Caramel cut with the largest of the Scallop Squares Nestabilities. A chocolate chip square was cut using the Spellbinders Fair Isles pendant. The little circle flower is a die from the Classic Frame Frameabilities set also by Spellbinders. The pearls are from Kaiser Kraft. The image is from our sponsor this week, The Prairie Fairy, and was colored with Copics. Roberta will give five digital images to the random winner of this week's challenge.

I hope to see your creation entered into our challenge this week at Our Creative Corner. Be sure to stop by the other design team members blogs to see their beautiful work too!

♥Wendy Jensen♥Dana Grothaus♥Diane Gilbert♥Jennifer Meyer

♥Julie LeBlanc♥Sarah Gough♥Lori Rider♥

Thanks again for stopping by and for the wonderful comments you all leave. I'm sorry that I haven't had time to return the favor, but am hoping things slow down a bit for me in July after I return from vacation.

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges Entered:

Crafty Catz - Embossing

Cardvarks - Wet or Dry Embossing

A Prairie Fairy Preview

More big news this week. As of May 1st, I will be on the Prairie Fairy's Design Team. What an exciting week this has been for me. First Isabella's Sketchbook and now the Prairie Fairy. This card uses a digital image from The Prairie Fairy. I created it with the specifics to fit both the Mojo Monday sketch and the Shabby Tea Room challenge. I saw a card last week using Aida cloth and that it was wonderfully shabby. Since I have an entire box full of it in my closet, left over from my cross stitch days, I decided to drag it out and re-purpose it. I also used it to create a little hand made flower. Then, of course, I couldn't resist getting out the embroidry floss and doing a few cross stitches too. The paper is Afternoon Tea (retired SU) and the images are colored with Copics. The punch is from SU and the embossing folder from Cuttlebug.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges:

Stamp Simply - April Showers Bring May Flowers

Chrisma Cardz - Girly Card with Flowers

Cute Card Thursday - Make Your Own (I made the flower)

Paper Play - Pretty Pastels

Two in One

Two posts in one day...two tags on one card...strange happenings here at the Funkie Junkie. I don't think I have ever posted twice in one day, but I made two cards for today and felt two posts were better than one combined. A couple of weeks ago, I entered this card into a challenge at The Prairie Fairy Challenge and it came in #1. The prize was three wonderful Prairie Fairy digital images and an opportunity to be a guest designer for this week's challenge. The challenge is use eyelets and string on your card. This is the card I made for the challenge, using one of the digis I won. I really struggled with the eyelets part. I hardly ever use eyelets any more and I kept noodling it, trying to come up with a creative way of using them. Finally I decided to make a tag, but I needed more than one eyelet, plus the image didn't really fit on the tag die size I have, so I came up with the wacky idea of "stamping" the image across two tags. It was a little tricky with the printer, but I got it to work.

Not too many details to describe. I used the same retired SU Porcelain Prints. The tags were dei cut with a Spellbinders die and the image was colored with Copics. I added some Stickles to her wings for a bit of shimmer.

Be sure to stop by the Prairie Fairy Challenge blog today and check out the wonderful work the designers over there do. I'm so excited I got to join in the fun with them this week!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are getting the weekend off to a great start!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges entered:

Dare You to Digistamp - Metal

Quixotic Challenge - Heavy Metal

Paper Cutz - Use a tag (haha, I should win - isnt' 2 better than 1?)

Something Completely Different - My 'D' is for diecut

Meljen's Designs - 3D

Flutter By Wednesdays - Open challenge, just include a fairy, angel or butterfly

For Fun Challenges - Make an encouraging card